


more than words

by Darnaguen



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Ficlet, Freeform, Friendship/Love, Gen, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-22
Updated: 2018-06-22
Packaged: 2019-05-27 01:00:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15013268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darnaguen/pseuds/Darnaguen
Summary: An older Tumblr prompt for “I love you as a hello”. I could only think of one thing it fit. :')





	more than words

**Author's Note:**

  * For [niux](https://archiveofourown.org/users/niux/gifts).



–

“I love you” was not a combination of words often uttered on Jakku.

Something like that rang of sentimentality most could not afford, working themselves to the bone day after day under the searing sun. Any affection was mostly displayed through action, implication, emphasis. Context.

In some commonly used languages, the closest translation literally meant ‘I’m willing to share my meal with you’. 

“Love” was not considered practical. 

That, of course, did not mean it didn’t happen. But in Rey’s experience, it quite rarely happened like in the old holovids she’d sometimes managed to scavenge: the dramatic declarations and swelling music mostly made her laugh, and she was well on her way to adulthood when she realized the scenes were not intended as comical.

Words themselves did not mean a whole lot on Jakku.

They were a tool, merchandise, a means to an end – just like everything else. Deceiving with words was easy, so she wondered what did “I love you” even mean without action, implication, emphasis. Context.

They were just words. They could be as false, empty and meaningless as any other.

*

_“You’re nothing, but not to me.”_

Words again. Deceptive or sincere, but just words. They echo hollow to her through the Force, reverberating with a poison-sweet tinge. The context is wrong. The choice is easy.

Finn offers her no words and she’s relieved.

Relieved, too, that Chewie never had a chance to deliver her message to him. Any words feel trite in comparison to a tight embrace, an action so loud her ears ring with it.

 _“I’m Poe,”_  the pilot says.

Eager, friendly, admiring. His hand is warm, his eyes are warm. His heart is warm, she’s quite sure _. “I know,”_  he says when she tells him her name – but to her ears, it sounds like something else.

–

 


End file.
